'Astronaut!' is a coming-of-age story set against the fall of the Iron Curtain

*Astronaut!* by Oana Aristide depicts the stifling atmosphere of 1989 Romania, where the autocratic regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu demanded that citizens perform a constant, performative dance of loyalty despite pervasive scarcity. Survival in this environment necessitated the use of fables as a coded language, enabling parents to transmit truths about power and resistance to their children without triggering state surveillance. The novel explores how totalitarian control extends beyond physical actions to the policing of language and thought, exemplified by a young protagonist’s refusal to use state-approved terminology. By framing the narrative through a murder mystery and workplace comedy, the book captures the absurdity of life under communism, where humor and small, defiant gestures functioned as essential release valves for a population forced to live in a state of perpetual, state-mandated deception.